BITTER HERBS ; literally bitters; Sept. rfxpiSes ; Vulg. lactuca' ad rester). There has been much difference of opinion respecting the kind of herbs denoted by this word. On this subject the reader may consult Carpzov, A pparat. p. 404, sq.
It, however, seems very doubtful whether any particular herbs were intended by so general a term as bitters; • it is far more probable that it denotes whatever bitter herbs, obtainable in the place where the Passover was eaten, might be fitly used with meat. This seems to be established by the fact that the first directions respecting the Passover were given in Egypt, where also the first Passover was cele brated (Ex. xii. I-8) •, and as the esculent vegetables of Egypt are very different from those of Palestine, it is obvious that the bitter herbs used in the first cele bration could scarcely have been the same as those which were afterwards employed for the same pur pose in Canaan. According to the Mishna (Pesa chins, ii. 6), and the commentators thereon, there
were five sorts of bitter herbs, any one or all of which might be used on this occasion. There were rivri thazereth, supposed to be wild lettuce. which the Septuagint and Vulgate make stand for the whole. 2. rt:,,131'1Gishin, endives; or, according to some, wild endives. 3. rt71:11 thamca, which some make the garden endive, others horehound, others tansy; others the green tops of the horse-raddish, while, according to De Pomis, in Zemach David, it is no other than a species of thistle (carduus mar radium). 4. rinnnn charchabina, supposed to be a kind of nettle. 5. 77b maror, which takes its name from its bitterness, and is alleged by the Mishnic commentators to be a species of the most bitter coriander. All these might, according to the Mishna, be taken either fresh or dried ; but not pickled, boiled, or cooked in any way.—J. K.